After Reach
by TheNewIdea
Summary: The Prophet of Regret believes that a Forerunner artifact vital to the success of the Covenant lies underneath Reach and sends a scout team to investigate. What they find is more than they bargained for. Much more. Rated T for language, violence and themes dealing with morality and ethics. Also on a personal note: Not just a one trick pony. Just saying.
1. Chapter 1

I remember Reach. I remember the scorched earth, the ruined buildings and the countless number of dead. But I also remember the grass, the clean air, the towering buildings of the settlements and the lowly villages in the valleys.

As a crew member of _The Benediction of the King, _I take it to be my personal duty to write this account of life after Reach. As a member of the Covenant however, I damn myself to never follow my brothers and sisters in The Great Journey.

It began immediately after the last Spartan on Reach fell in 2525. I was assigned to dump the body and then report to base camp.

Picking up the Spartan was difficult for me, mostly because I'm nothing more than a simple minded Grunt with a few good ideas, as my friends and superiors ridicule me about constantly. My name is Pestilence, at least that's what my superiors call me, "You're nothing more than a disease" they say, "Your very existence is an insult to decent folk. A pestilence, that's what you are." I've been called this so many times that I simply started answering to it and the name stuck.

Dragging the body towards a pit, I noticed that there was a second body, another Spartan. The Elites, who were taking care of the body, stripped it of its armor and were attempting to wear it. I laughed to myself at their stupidity, actually surprised that they were the ones in charge. Tyrannus, the Captain in charge of our company, walked over to them and started yelling at them, I was just happy that it wasn't at me.

Stain, a Jackal who, like me, is ridiculed to the point of having such a name, walked over and began helping me with the Spartan. "This thing is heavy" he said to me, laughing a bit as he did so, "How much do these guys weigh?" I shrugged for I had no idea and gave my best guess, "300, maybe 278?" Stain shrugged in response, it was the kind of shrug that agreed with the person but at the same time being unsure of the answer. This is why I liked Stain, he was a real person, well as much of a real person can be for a Jackal that is. I like to think Stain saw me in the same way, for even though he was above me in rank, serving two years longer than me in the military and older by almost four years in age, Stain saw me as an equal.

I couldn't help but feel how unceremonious we were being. Here we were dragging a dead body to a large desolate pit, never to see the light of day again and somehow that was supposed to rub off of us as nothing. I looked down at the body and saw that the Spartan was missing its helmet. The Spartan, compared to others that I have seen, was relatively young, no older than 23, which was strange considering how much it had been through. It had battle scars that would make even the most hardened Elite cringe with pain; the right half of its face had a large gash, making the rest of it almost unrecognizable. Its hair was black, with chunks of dirt in it as a result of lying in state for several hours.

I saw that around its neck were two dog tags; I leaned in to get a closer look and read the names aloud, "Jorge 0-52 and Spartan B-312." Stain leaned over my shoulder annoyingly, "What is it?" he asked curiously, "Dog tags" I answered as I ripped them off and pocketed them for the archives, "The last survivors of this place." I laughed to myself as I looked out over the pit, for a moment, thinking about what it would be like to be them, to be dead and yet live on forever in song. "What are we?" I said to myself, "Are we really the saviors of the galaxy? Bringing about peace and justice? Or are we nothing more than religious zealots, blindly following a path that leads to destruction simply because we're too stupid and narrow minded to know any better? I don't know. But what I do know is that the Covenant can't last, despite what the Hierarchs say, we will fail. The Covenant will fail; those who survive will go their separate ways, back to their homes, to their families as if none of this ever happened." Stain looked at me as if I was crazy, but I knew what I was talking about.

"Pestilence, get your ass over here!" Tyrannus cried, just as I dumped the body into the pit, "Yes sir" I said as I walked over. Tyrannus held up a bloody bag to my face "These are the entrails of Emile" he declared. I raised my eyebrows curiously for I had no idea who Emile was, "Emile sir?" I asked for clarification, "The one that the idiots were taking care of" Tyrannus explained, "I retrieved his tags. Anyway, these are his entrails. Take them to base camp and give them to the cook." I cringed in disgust and carefully took the bag, "Isn't that a little...medieval sir?" Tyrannus laughed hardheartedly, "You should be used to eating it by now, I mean you are Pestilence after all." I rolled my eyes annoyingly, it seemed I was always getting these things only to throw them off in the middle of the woods, "And you better eat it this time Grunt" Tyrannus continued, "I didn't go through the trouble of skinning the bastard just so you can feed it to the Hunters again." I sighed, gave a half hearted salute and walked away with the bag in hand.

Base camp was a small farm just outside the main military installation. Once everything of value was cleared out we would move inside, but for now we were reduced to small "stick and straw" huts. I say this because the size of the huts was no bigger than a traditional teepee, they weren't actually made out of sticks and straw, expect for mine, which quite literally was a stick and straw hut.

Walking over to the cook's quarters, which used to be the remnants of a barn, I hastily emptied the bag in my designated pot and left, hoping to leave before the cook showed up.

Later that day, Stain came running up with orders from up on high, this usually meant a mission or some kind of exciting adventure for us and rarely happened. "Hey Pest" Stain said excitingly, "We've got orders from Regret." Probably wanting us to eradicate someone or enslave another human settlement, "He wants us to investigate some Forerunner artifacts." I took a look at the order, "Here?" I asked, "There's nothing here, this is a human settlement." Stain shook his head in disagreement, "This is ancient stuff. Haven't you read the old histories, the Forerunners and the war with the Flood and the humans? Reach is one of the places that the humans managed to defend."

Here's the thing with Stain. 95% of everything that he says is either a lie or a tall tale. I'm not saying that I'm a truthful Grunt, because I am not, not by any means but I'm definitely more truthful than Stain. There was another thing wrong with this information, it came directly from Regret, who was a Hierarch and had no business in a militaristic sense with the Covenant, more interested in politics. The military was all Truth, so it made absolutely no sense for Regret to send anything in the way of orders our way, if it was so important he would've sent it straight to the Commander.

"Ignore it Stain" I replied, "It's probably nothing. We don't do anything until Tyrannus gives an order, understand?" Stain nodded somewhat sadly, "Whatever you say Pestilence, you're the boss." I have no idea why he said this, for I was not the boss and if Tyrannus or one of the other Elites heard Stain saying that, we'd both by joining the bodies in the pit and that was something I was not looking forward to.


	2. Chapter 2

**Pronunciation of Names:**

**Bren- (Burr-REN, as in Render)**

**Wendslar (Win-stellar, the R is hard)**

"Alright listen up!" Tyrannus screamed the next morning jolting me out of sleep and standing at attention without so much as getting dressed, "We've got orders from the top" he continued, "And for Prophet's sake Pestilence put some damned clothes on!" I looked myself over and sheepishly retreated into my hut and put my armor on, "Regret has an interest in a possible Forerunner facility that he believes is buried underneath this pitiful planet" Tyrannus began once again, "How is that possible?" I asked from inside my hut as I began helplessly looking for my helmet, "Wasn't this a human settlement?" Tyrannus groaned and pulled me out of the hut and lifted me off the ground, "Never question orders! This isn't a democracy, it's a dictatorship. If Regret gives us an order, we follow it." I nodded in partial understanding, "Well yeah" I began, "But isn't it a little far fetched? The Forerunners haven't even been seen for a millennium or two!" Tyrannus punched me in the stomach and threw me down to the ground.

Stain pulled me to my feet and helped me get in our formation. Tyrannus was up in front; behind him were Bren and Darius, two Brutes brothers with brains the size of peanuts. Wendslar, the Big Brother of the group was directly behind me and Stain, behind him was Naomi, also a Hunter and Wendslar's girlfriend. In the middle of the group was Brainiac, a Jackal and as his name implies is the Brains of the group.

We stopped in front of a small cave. Tyrannus pulled out a hologram communicator on the ground and called up Regret, in moments the Prophet was standing, or rather sitting in a hover chair, before us. "Is this the place Prophet?" Tyrannus asked hopefully. Regret looked around and shrugged, "The Forerunner installation is near Tyrannus" he answered, "We must uncover its secrets if The Great Journey is to succeed." Tyrannus nodded in understanding and walked forward, the others following close behind, Stain, Wendslar and I stayed behind.

"What do you want?" Regret asked, Stain nudged my shoulder and I nervously stepped forward. Just being in the holographic presence of one of the Prophets was enough to make me scared shitless. Out of all of them Regret was the one that if I had to like, I liked, but I didn't like any of them, so it really doesn't matter. "I have to ask Your Grace" I answered trying to humble myself, "What is the Great Journey? What is it really?" Regret shook his head in disbelief, "If you do not know by now then you never will. The Great Journey cannot be taken halfheartedly; it must be made in full stride." Stain pulled me back, but I resisted, "No" I said sternly, "I want an answer. What is the Great Journey?" Regret sighed, obviously he hated that he had to explain it yet once again, but nevertheless did so anyway. "I see that some of you need a reminder. Very well...The Great Journey is a grand religious endeavor. When the scared rings are activated, we shall go to the Covenant Paradise, a world that is free of corruption, of pain and of suffering. A world where all shall be treated as equals and we shall be granted our true power and become gods."

This explanation I have heard a thousand times and each time I had harder of a time actually believing it. If the Paradise was a place where all are treated equally, then why did the humans resist? Shouldn't they want a place that is free or corruption, or pain and all that? Regret, as if he was reading my thoughts instantly replied no sooner than I had the thought, "The humans are a parasite. Nothing more than a stain and a pestilence that must be cleansed before the Great Journey can begin, otherwise they might enter the Paradise and corruption shall run rampant there as it does here." Wendslar turned off the communicator and pocketed it, before pushing me and Stain inside the cave.

The cave was narrow from the beginning, Wendslar and Naomi having no choice but to smash the cave walls to make it big enough for them to pass. I was afraid that this was going to cause a cave in but thankfully the gods were with us and so only the loud rumble of their work interrupted the stillness of the dark.

Tyrannus and the others turned on their flashlights and looked around as soon as they entered an opening big enough for all of us to fit inside. The cavern had the remnants of Forerunner architecture laced within the rock and earth. "What do you think they used this place for?" Naomi asked, "Worship" Brainiac answered, "The Forerunners were a deeply religious people. This is probably the entrance to one of their temples." Darius looked around confusingly, "Why would a temple be built here?" he asked to no one in particular, "Maybe there's a reason" I replied, causing Darius to shoot a glare towards me. "Was I talking to you Grunt? No. You're supposed to be seen, not heard. Now get up in front, you're on point."

Being on point is not a good thing, especially if you're a Grunt. Usually because the point man is always the first one to go down. It didn't make me feel any better that Stain was directly behind me, at least we would go out together. We found a large door in the corner of the cavern, it looked to be ancient. I attempted to push the door open but found it to be locked. Tyrannus motioned for the Hunters to try and blast the door down, but their cannons did absolutely nothing. Brainiac examined the door and shook his head, "It's impossible to open" he said, "We would need an Oracle to open it." Tyrannus sighed in disbelief, "There hasn't been an Oracle in years. Where are we going to find one?" I could hear a noise coming from one of the dark corners of the cave. I turned on my flashlight to investigate and fell upon a floating sphere.

The sphere appeared to be a robot of some kind, whatever it was, it was obviously dormant. Brainiac looked over, "Well what do you know?" he said excitingly, "There's one!" Bren stared at the sphere in confusion, not understanding what Brainiac was talking about, "What is it?" he asked curiously, "It's an Oracle" Brainiac answered straightly, "Turn it on Brainiac" Tyrannus growled, "We've got an artifact to collect." Brainiac nodded and walked over to the sphere, motioning for me to come with him.

"Look at the detail!" Brainiac said admiring it, "It's incredible. I bet this thing holds a lot of stuff, what do you think?" Brainiac was always asking my opinion on things; I have no idea why for I wasn't an expert in the field, having much preferred my position as a field medic. And yet for some reason Brainiac valued my opinion above everyone else in the entire group, I think he looked up to me, I now of course, know the reason why. Brainiac saw in me what the others, not even Stain, didn't. "How do you turn it on?" I asked, dismissing his question and simply wanting to get the door open so we can get on our way and out of this detestable cave. "I don't know" Brainiac replied as he examined it once again, finding a small hole which appeared to fit a key of some kind, it was about the size of my finger.

Seeing no sign of any keys, I did the next logical thing and stuck my finger the small hole of the sphere. In an instant the thing woke up, a blue light that served as its eye shined about it. The sphere, which was indeed a robot and obviously the Oracle, turned to me and began looking me over. Then it began to speak. "Hello Awakener" it said rather happily, "Hello" I answered curious as to why it was speaking, least of all to someone like me, "Who are you?" I asked, pressing for information and for the sake of the others. The Oracle looked around and saw Tyrannus, Stain, Bren, Darius and the Hunters and nodded in understanding, "I am 343 Guilty Spark, Overseer of Forerunner Installations 02, 05, 04 and 06." I raised my eyebrows confusingly at this, "So you're not an Oracle?" I replied, "I have been known to serve that purpose" Guilty Spark answered, "so yes, I am an Oracle, but first and foremost an Overseer of this Installation and protector of its inhabitants."

Brainiac laughed at this, "Inhabitants! The Forerunners have been dead for years! There's nothing in this place but old relics." Guilty Spark turned sharply towards Brainiac and shook his head, "Incorrect" he declared, "Although it is true that the Forerunners have been gone for a long time, eons at best, life has always existed here, in one form or another." Tyrannus was getting annoyed with having to wait and shouted across the room, "Just open the damn door!" Guilty Spark glanced over at Tyrannus and then back to me, "Watch that one Awakener, He's testy." I huffed, for that remark did absolutely no justice to what Tyrannus really was. Guilty Spark walked over to the door.

"Ah yes let's see" he began, thinking out loud, "How to open the door?" Tyrannus was getting more and more annoyed, I could almost feel the lashes on my back from previous instances and the futures ones that I would undoubtedly receive later. "Will you hurry it up?" Tyrannus yelled, "An attitude like that isn't going to get you anywhere" Guilty Spark replied, "So I suggest you shut up and let me think! I've been dormant for a very long and can't be expected to do things on a mere whim!" Tyrannus groaned and for the moment at least remained silent. He then turned back to me, "Awakener, would you mind helping me with the door?" I failed to see exactly what it was I would be able to do, for the door easily weighed a thousand tons. "See that hand print?" Guilty Spark said as he gestured to the door, specifically to a stone hand, "Place your hand upon it." I did so and nothing happened, "That's your glove" he explained, "its needs your bare hand." I sighed, and took off my glove, revealing a greyish looking hand with three distinct prongs for fingers and placed it on the hand print.

Guilty Spark then pushed a button that was high on the door and immediately the hand print began glowing a bright yellowish color, I could feel a slight tingling sensation coursing throughout my veins, I felt stronger, more physically able. It was as if the Forerunners had granted me something. Brainiac began recording, making sure to capture every detail.

The door opened, revealing the dusty ruins of the beginning of the Forerunner structure. It seemed that Regret was right. But what purpose did all of this serve, this mission? I had no idea, but I was about to find out.

Guilty Spark led us into a large chasm like chamber. We were standing on a light bridge; below us was an endless pit that looked to go all the way down to the end of the planet and out the other side. The thought alone of falling scared me more than actual falling did. Guilty Spark turned back to me, "Watch your step Awakener" he said, "Wouldn't want you to fall." I raised my eyebrows curiously, "Oh and why is that?" I asked. Guilty Spark laughed as if I should know the answer, "Oh surely you jest me Awakener! You cannot fall! For one thing you would be dead and that's not good for anybody oh no but especially not for you, not when you have a job to do." Tyrannus laughed, insulted by the mere suggestion that I could do anything of great importance, "A Grunt do anything of importance? That'll be the millennium!" Guilty Spark, Stain and Brainiac turned to defend me, Bren and Daruis immediately jumped on Tyrannus' side. Wendslar looked down, "Uh guys" he said nervously, "Can this wait until we get across the dangerous, bottomless, treacherous, ambiguous chasm of doom please?" Bren straightened and spoke for the entire group as he looked down, "He has a point. We can kill each other when we get across."

Wendslar and Naomi moved carefully across the light bridge, "Careful dear" Naomi said with concern, "Just don't look down Naomi" Wendslar replied reassuringly, "Don't look down and everything will be fine." Up to that point, Guilty Spark and I, for the bridge was wide enough that we were able to stand aside, were the last ones to make it safely across. Then I heard the sound of the light bridge cracking. I turned around and looked fearfully at the two Hunters; they were halfway across the bridge. Behind them were several cracks, if any more weight was put on the bridge, it would fail and they would surely fall to their deaths. Naomi looked behind her and recognized this and turned sadly to Wendslar, "Just in case we don't make it" she said softly, "Don't worry" Wendslar replied, "We'll make it." They moved forward, my anxiety was at its peak and I'll be damned if I was goanna lose anyone, not while I was on point.

Guilty Spark looked towards me, his expression, if he had one, would've matched mine exactly. We were both thinking the same thing; we both knew that they were going to die. Tyrannus looked down at the bridge and saw the hundreds of cracks before he walked over to the bridge control panel. Guilty Spark turned towards him and powered himself up, his blue eye turning to a dark crimson red, "You touch that panel, you die" Tyrannus laughed smugly and placed his hand daringly over the light bridge controls. Out of sheer panic I raised my gun and fired blindly, the plasma bolt hitting Tyrannus' hand while at the same time the control panel.

Wendslar looked down as he saw the light bridge blink once and then twice, all the while he continued moving. Before I could so much as think I was on the bridge, I knew that at best I had ten seconds before the bridge fully deactivated. I made my first steps out, the cracking got worse with each proceeding step. Wendslar turned towards Naomi and embraced her, "No matter what happens" he said, "Know that I love you." Naomi nodded in understanding and kissed him, and he kissed back, just as he grabbed Naomi's arm and hurled her towards me, the light bridge shaking violently as the clock ticked to mere seconds. Naomi looked down lovingly at me and picked me up, "You are not Pestilence" she said as she pulled me in, accepting her fate, "You are Benevolence. The light, guide them, lead them. Do it for us." I nodded in understanding and Naomi threw me over. I could hear Wendslar calling out to me, I didn't make out what he said for by that time he was already falling but I did catch four words, "Son, Kindest Person and Proud." It didn't take a genius to decode that. Incidentally, I also remembered that Wendslar had the communicator, so there was no way of making contact with the surface or the outside world and with the light bridge panel destroyed we were trapped and on our own.


End file.
